51st state

just so I don't do this wrong, what is meant by chipping seeds?

What i have been doing is chipping thru the seed coat till i can just see a teeny tiny tears bit of the inner. Is this correct?
cheers
Kev

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rane

Maybe for some other seeds but mutilating banana seeds in any way is not recommended (if your objetive is to improve germination that is )

Gabe15

I agree, it is not helpful to chip the seeds, there is already a soft point called the micropyle where water can easily enter into the seed. Chipping the seed can only lead to possibly damaging the embryo.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

51st state

thanks for the replies. I was trying to follow the info from here...

http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/Publicati...ns/52/ch34.htm

looked like a good study to me.
anyone got any comments on any of the results here.

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Gabe15

Most of the areas where it mentions chipping the seed coat looks to be in reference to embryo rescue techniques, not standard germination. It does mention in one section to clearly just chip the seed coat without extracting the embryo, but if you want to do this, make sure it's on the bottom or the side of the seed, do not make any scars or holes near the small circle/hole you will see on the top of the seed.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

Chironex

Every time I have read an article about chipping banana seeds they do it along the side. With the micropylar plug flat on the table, just nick a small slice off of the side, slicing straight down towards the tabletop. I find a scalpel or a razor knife work well. The important thing is to place the scarified seeds into aseptic potting material, not soil. They will simply rot out in soil, too many microbes find their way inside. There was a post showing this method of scarification and the results awhile back. Here is the link to the page with the attachment (second attachment):


Re: American Journal of Botany, Vol. 49, No. 5 (May - Jun., 1962)

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I have attached a full copy of it and one other that may be of interest
I hope it worked
Taorking

Attached Files

	Seed Germination Studies in Musa 3.pdf(2).pdf (1.44 MB, 39 views)
	Seed Germination Studies in Musa.pdf (1.11 MB, 28 views)

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Scot